


Don't Make Me Fall in Love Again (If He Won't Be Here Next Year)

by twoohugs



Series: Advent Calendar 2019 [2]
Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21592537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twoohugs/pseuds/twoohugs
Summary: Octavius is the attractive exchange student. Jedidiah is an enamored disaster gay.
Relationships: Jedediah/Octavius (Night at the Museum)
Series: Advent Calendar 2019 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556131
Comments: 10
Kudos: 155





	1. Jedidiah

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, despite the title, this fic has little to no angst.
> 
> Title from Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande

Jedidiah is sure he would've remembered this guy if he'd ever seen him on campus. He peeks out from behind his laptop again, and sighs happily at tall, dark and handsome sitting on the table across from him.

Jed is almost sure he isn't a freshman. He has that _vibe_ that tells you he has been in this purgatory (fuck uni) for a while. He’s frowning at his notes in what seems to be resignation, his hand running through his short-cropped hair. 

Taking advantage of McHottie's (Jed isn't particularly creative in this aspect, okay) concentration, Jed not-so-subtly scans through his body appreciatively. He is muscular, but not overly buff in that "only go to the gym for the weights" kind of way, his biceps straining under his hoodie whenever he shifts.

Too busy staring at his arms, Jed fails to notice when the guy starts staring back. When he realizes that McHottie has stopped moving for a while, he raises his head to see deep, dark eyes looking straight back. Jed reels back so abruptly, he falls down his chair, narrowly avoiding pulling his laptop and coffee down along with him.

Jed climbs back up under the judging glares of a group of girls on another table. He pouts despite his flaming face, drawing out his motions of righting his chair to avoid looking at McHottie’s reaction of his utter humiliation. 

Finally, Jed drags his eyes up from the table, peering up the hands, torso, neck… and arrives at an expression he dares describe as “fondly amused”.

McHottie raises one of his thick eyebrows and _smirks_. Jed lowers his gaze again and rubs at his eyes with his knuckles. He must’ve hit his head on the way down and is hallucinating. 

A stack of notes drops down onto the table. Jed looks up to see McHottie sit down opposite him.

“Hello, my name is Octavius.” Says a rich, deep voice with a nice accent.

Jed clears his throat nervously. “Hey mate, I’m Jed. Jedidiah.”

“I just want to check if you are injured.” McHottie, no, Octavius says, slightly frowning, “That was quite a painful fall.”

“Nah, it was quite Nasty but ol’ Jedidiah’s had worse.” Jed grins, even when his mind unhelpfully supplies images of how absolutely ungraceful that fall must have looked in Octavius’s position. He decides to change the topic quickly. “So, Octavius, I’ve never seen you around here on campus.”

“Oh, I don’t often come to this part of the school campus.” Octavius says, “I am an exchange student, you see, and I mainly stay near the international students’ dormitory in Smithsonian college.”

“What? That’s a complete waste! You’ve come all the way from, erm, somewhere in Europe?” He narrows his eyes at Octavius as if trying to deduce where he’s from, and grins when Octavius lets out an amused chuckle.

“Italy.” He helpfully supplies.

“You’ve come all the way from Italy, man! You should, you know, move around! See all the school has to offer!”

“We do go out to explore the city, but I admit I have not spent much time in the school campus itself.” Octavius hums consideringly. “Hmm. What would you suggest I see?”

“Have you been to the mirror pool in the Western campus?” Jed asks. 

Octavius shakes his head. “I have not, although it sounds like a rather interesting place to visit.”

“It is, mate!” Jed says eagerly. “You have to go see it at least once, it’s beautiful when the weather’s nice like this.” He waves a hand at the windows.

Octavius turns to look outside, and nods with a smile. “The weather is indeed nice today. Maybe I should go see the mirror pool. I could use a break from studying.” He grimaces at his stack of notes.

Jed slams the cover of his laptop close and grins innocently when Octavius jumps. “Well, I could use a break from my final essay too, my new friend. What d’ya say we go see it now?”

Looking startled, Octavius raises an eyebrow. “Now?”

“Of course! No time like the present, brother!” Jed is already standing up and stuffing his things into his backpack. Grinning at his enthusiasm, Octavius also stands and starts putting his notes inside his tote.

“It can be a long walk to the Western campus.” Jed says as he leads the way outside the coffee shop, “what do you think about cycling?”

“I do not mind either.” Octavius says. Jed looks over to him and- oh wow. They are roughly the same height, but Octavius is much, much buff. Standing this close, Jed is privy to the sight of the material of the hoodie strung tight over Octavius’s chest and arms, and if that’s not enough, even his eyes look deeper and brighter under the sunlight.

“Uh.” Jed tries, then clears his throat. “Um, cycling it is, then. You ever used the school's rental bikes?” 

"No, I haven't."

"Wha- C'mon, Octy, there's so much you have to see in this school!"

"I-"

"It's your school now, Octy."

"I believe it is _our_ school, Jedidiah."

...

"Jedidiah? Are you choking- hold on, I have a bottle of water…"


	2. Octavius

Jedidiah may be loud and obnoxious, but Octavious knows that anyone who bothers to actually interact with him would know that the he is anything but dumb. 

So why is he so oblivious to Octavius’s advances? Octavius has never shied away from his sexuality, and he is pretty sure he had been high-key flirting with the blond since literally the moment they had met. Yet, Jedidiah still insists to call him bro, dude and mate.

Assuming that Jed is aware of Octavius's flirting, there could only be two explanations. The more hopeful one would be, Jed has been flirting back, and Octavius is the oblivious idiot here. But, Octavius can’t help but fear that the more realistic option would be that Jed has been trying to reject Octabius by bro-zoning him and Octavius is being a blind jerk who can't take a clue.

He sighs internally and peaks up from his notes to look at Jedidiah, who is furiously typing yet another essay. Octavius shakes his head in sympathy, and looks back down at his notes. This time he sighs audibly. The foreign exchange programs allowed him to take classes that are unrelated to his major, so he happily chose courses that sounds interesting to him, like Philosophy of Love, and Positive Psychology. He is now regretting these decisions, because like Jedidah, he is a lit major who is hard-wired to deal with deadline-fighting essays, not cramping a semester of notes into his brain. He thinks he has cramped so much it’s leaking out from his ear.

“Octy? Want a break? A cup of coffee?”

“I think I have had enough coffee.” Octavius smiles dryly, nodding at his cup of cooled coffee.

“Yeah.” Jedidiah sighs, leaning back to stretch his arms. “What about a stroll?”

“That would be very nice.”

The two of them gather their stuff and leaves for a walk. As if making up for the few hours of silence before, Jedidiah sets to chatter on, while Octavius satisfiedly listens fondly.

“It’s really a shame Ank couldn’t come last week. I think you’d like him.” Jedidiah is saying, “Ank hosts the best Christmas parties. I wish you could go.”

Octavius frowns. “Why wouldn’t I be able to go?”

It is Jedidiah’s turn to frown. “Why would you?”

“Well, I- I was not invited, that’s true.” Octavius mutters, stung. Unless this is one of those private parties, which it isn’t, judging by the way Jedidiah describes it, Jedidiah should be able to extend the invitation to Octavius if he wants to. But apparently he does not.

“Of course you aren’t!” Jedidiah exclaims, and this time Octavius can’t help physically reeling back, blinking harshly. Jedidiah glances over, and his jaw drops at whatever he sees on Octavius’s face.

“Hey! Hey, Octy, that’s not what I mean.” Octavius only grunts, staring at his feet. “Of course I’d love to invite you! The guys all want to meet you too, I’ve been talking about you so much, just…”

Jedidiah reaches out to hold Octavius’s wrist. Octavius looks up, but Jedidiah does not meet his eyes. 

“If I knew it matters so much to you I would’ve asked.” Jedidiah says quietly. “But I just thought you wouldn’t want to be reminded that you’re leaving so soon.”

Octavius frowns. “I’m leaving?”

Jedidiah looks up at that. “You’re not leaving?”

“This is the only long break I get to spend here, of course I’m not leaving.” Octavius says disbelievingly, “I’ve spent so many Christmases at home, I can afford to spend one here.”

Jedidiah’s eyes widen as he grasps for words to say. “Wh- wha…”

“Did you think I would just fly home for a week, then fly back here?”

“I thought all exchange students leave after the semester ends!”

“I’m in the year-long program!” Finally understanding the problem, Octavius runs a hand through his hair in frustration, “I still have a whole semester left here.”

Jedidiah just blinks at him. Then he starts laughing. Or is he crying? Octavius can’t tell.

“I thought we’ll be saying goodbye in a week!” Jedidiah cries, punching Octavius’s shoulder. “You didn’t say you’re staying for the whole year!”

“You didn’t ask!” Octavius defends, as he frantically scans through his memory to see if he really has never mentioned it―he hasn’t. _Oh._

“Jedidiah.” He tries, softly.

“Yeah?”

“I will be staying here for one more semester. Then, there is a program that hires foreign exchange students after graduation to work here in the US that I’m considering.”

“Oh.”

“Yes.”

Octavius looks at Jedidiah expectantly, but the other boy still seems too surprised to react properly.

“So, about that invitation…” Octavius prompts.

“Fuck yes, I’m gonna show you off to everyone.” Jedidiah finally shakes himself out of his stupor, his grin so wide it is almost splitting his face in half.

Octavius smiles back, not minding in the very least that the pair of them are probably both looking like loons, grinning at each other at the middle of the sidewalk. He suddenly notices that Jedidiah is still holding his wrist. With a sudden burst of courage, he flicks his hand around and holds Jedidiah’s hand properly. Jedidiah lets out a small gasp, staring at their joined hands like he can’t believe what he is seeing.

“This ok?” Octavius asks quietly. His answer comes in the form of a bright smile, and a peck on the lips. Then, Jedidiah starts walking again and pulls Octavius along by their hands. Octavius blinks, still shocked from the surprise kiss.

“Come on, let’s walk.” Jedidiah says, “I’ve got to text the guys to tell them I’m bringing you, shit, they’ve been hearing me pine all these months, the teasing will last forever…”


End file.
